Harry Kane's late double rescues Tuchel and England from DR Congo upset in dramatic World Cup turnaround

Well, perhaps he really was destined to be their savior. On a chaotic, emotionally charged afternoon beneath Atlanta Stadium's iconic domed roof, it was Harry Kane who carried England into the World Cup round of 16, single-handedly preventing what would have been another catastrophic tournament exit.

England looked utterly lost, a side paralyzed by fear and completely out of sorts as they trailed 1-0 to a well-drilled DR Congo team. But Kane had other ideas, producing two moments of clinical finishing in the space of 11 minutes to transform certain humiliation into unbridled jubilation. In doing so, he may well have saved Thomas Tuchel's managerial tenure and spared the Football Association from one of the most embarrassing defeats in its history. For long stretches of this contest, England were on the brink.

The first hydration break offered a surreal snapshot of a team in crisis. England had been abysmal up to that point – not just tactically disjointed, but visibly anxious and disjointed, misplacing passes and knocking the ball around with all the confidence of men fumbling with an empty bucket on a dark country road.

You could see the despair etched on the players' faces, that all-too-familiar look of dread as memories of past failures came flooding back – Iceland, Croatia, that night in Rotterdam when Graham Taylor could only apologize.

The squad huddled on the touchline as Hey Baby blared over the PA and cheerleaders performed on the big screens. Reece James pulled Jude Bellingham aside, whispering words of encouragement to his clearly frustrated teammate. Amidst the chaos, Tuchel's message was remarkably simple: stay calm.

The cut a somber figure in his black shirt, black trousers and white trainers, pacing the technical area like a man attending a funeral he'd rather not be at. He got right in his players' faces, barking instructions, suggesting tactical tweaks, demanding more intensity and better movement. But nobody looked calm. The tension was palpable.

By the second hydration break, nothing had changed. England had created opportunities and forced Lionel Mpasi into some excellent saves, but they'd also faded after promising spells, and the scoreboard still showed 1-0 to the opposition. Take Me Home, Country Roads echoed around the stadium. It felt like an apt soundtrack.

This was the moment of reckoning. Heads were about to roll. Everything feels bigger and louder in America, and England were 25 minutes away from arguably their most humiliating World Cup defeat since that shock loss to the USA in 1950.

That defeat to Iceland in Nice was bad enough, but at least that was a poor England side. This group had reached two major finals. Tuchel's appointment was supposed to represent a new era, a step up from Southgate. The mission was clear: win the World Cup or go down trying. Right then, it looked like going down in the most humiliating fashion imaginable.

Tuchel addressed his players once more, firing off ideas and suggestions at a million miles an hour as his squad stood with heads bowed. Perhaps elite players can process that level of information under such extreme pressure. In that moment, they didn't look capable of processing anything.

That's when Kane produced arguably the greatest performance of his England career, rescuing not just a match but potentially an entire generation from another traumatic tournament memory. After the restart, England pushed numbers forward, with Declan Rice operating at right-back and driving into space. Rice got to the byline and swung in a deep cross that Anthony Gordon headed back across goal, where Kane was waiting to power a header past Mpasi and into the net.

The stadium erupted in a wave of pure relief rather than unadulterated joy. England kept pressing as DR Congo tired in the Atlanta heat. Once again it was Kane, once again set up by Gordon, who twisted and turned before shifting the ball onto his right foot and unleashing a thunderous strike into the top corner. The substitutes streamed onto the pitch before the ball had even hit the back of the net.

This was Kane's moment of redemption. He was there in Nice ten years ago for that Iceland humiliation, experienced all the abuse aimed at Raheem Sterling, heard the fans jeering about the Euros, saw Roy Hodgson's shell-shocked post-match press conference.

A decade later, he was the hero, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory and saving England from another nightmare. It seems remarkable now that there was once talk Tuchel might look beyond Kane when he first took the job 18 months ago.

In Atlanta, he saved not just Tuchel's job but his reputation as an elite manager. Kane now has five goals at this World Cup and 84 for his country overall, well on his way to the inevitable century. His career is a testament to extraordinary mental fortitude, particularly given where he started. That winning goal, coming after 85 minutes of running down blind alleys and growing frustration, said everything about his quality and character.

England now head to Mexico City to face the hosts in the last 16. Nobody really knows how good this team actually is. They've looked like a collection of individuals rather than a cohesive unit throughout this tournament.

Atlanta Stadium might just be the best venue at this World Cup, actually located within the city and surrounded by streets and walkways rather than stranded in some soulless out-of-town retail park.

The heat outside was brutal, the kind that makes crossing a highway feel like a marathon, but inside the dome the air was cool and pleasant. Even before kickoff there were selection questions, particularly on the right side where Djed Spence and Noni Madueke were paired. Madueke, for all his talent, remains a one-footed winger still learning the game – a risky selection for such a crucial match.

England did absolutely nothing for the first six minutes. That's when DR Congo scored a goal born of dreadful defending. Spence followed Noah Sadiki's run, leaving a massive gap behind him that a proper defensive midfielder would have covered. A diagonal ball found Brian Cipenga, who fired a low shot inside Pickford's near post – a goalkeeper of his caliber really should have kept that out.

Truth be told, England looked exactly what they are: a team hastily assembled with no clear identity. What have they actually built over the past 18 months? Lots of buzzwords, some gimmicky selections, and constant chopping and changing of personnel and systems.

For long periods, DR Congo's tactical discipline exposed England's rawness and naivety. Bellingham charged around leaving gaps in midfield, while Pickford flapped his arms wildly in an attempt to organize his defense – a tactic that, perhaps unsurprisingly, did little to calm anyone's nerves.

When the final whistle blew, the sense of relief among players and fans was overwhelming as they sang together in the away end. It hadn't been pretty, and they'd ridden their luck at times, but they'd shown character to turn it around. Most importantly, they have Harry Kane – a temporary band-aid for many of this team's flaws, but on days like this, a one-man team capable of carrying a nation.